I don't want to start rambling Peter, it's bad form. But when an 8 becomes a 9 the grading company is minting money. It's like the treasury printing hundred dollar bills. Nothing has been produced, it's just monopoly money. Is that good for the hobby? It's debatable.
But the money angle aside, grading is far too subjective and undefined for me. I would be a big supporter of it if it were really consistent among the major companies, and if it were done so precisely that one could rarely ever expect the grade to change upon resubmission. Then I would feel we've got something good. But how many times have you heard of people sending a card in three times and getting three different grades? Sorry, but it's not a system I have all that much faith in. But if I'm selling cards, which I don't do anymore, I'd get every one of them graded because the market dictates it. As a collector I wouldn't care one way or the other.
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